1. Technical Field
The present invention relates to a technique for supplying fluid to a medical apparatus.
2. Related Art
According to a related art, for example, a technique disclosed in JP-A-9-264261 is known as a technique for stably feeding fluid. JP-A-9-264261 discloses a technique in which when one of two plunger pumps is carrying out an ejection process at a predetermined ejection pressure, the other stands by in the state of pre-pressurizing the fluid, and when the ejection pressure of the one plunger pump begins to fall, the other starts a pressurization and ejection process of the fluid and raises the pressure to a target ejection pressure within a short time, thus carrying out ejection continuously.
However, in the technique of JP-A-9-264261, a periodic pulsating flow is generated when the ejection is switched between the two plunger pumps. For example, in the case where the technique is applied to a fluid supply apparatus which feeds fluid to a water jet knife as a medical apparatus, a problem is pointed out that a pulsating flow is generated in the fluid ejected from the water jet knife, which is undesirable to the operation of the water jet knife. Also, various other issues are pointed such as reduction in size of the device, reduction in cost, resource saving, easier manufacturing, and improvement in user-friendliness. Such problems are equally seen in devices for supplying fluid not only to a water jet knife but also to other medical apparatuses.